Every night throughout the postseason, Sporting News will recognize that day’s top performers by awarding Star Points to the three players who shine brighter than the rest. At the end of the Stanley Cup Finals, the player with the most Star Points will be SN’s Star of the Playoffs.

Here are the stars of Wednesday's game:

1. Joel Ward, RW, Capitals

A frequent healthy scratch during the regular season’s stretch run, Ward became Washington’s playoff hero with only the second Game 7 overtime goal in franchise history, joining his coach, Dale Hunter, who gave the Capitals a victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in 1988.

After Mike Knuble blocked a Benoit Pouliot dump-in try and raced up ice, Ward trailed the play and his hustle paid off when Tim Thomas made the initial save on Knuble’s backhand. As the puck squirted aside, Ward got to it and put in the rebound for his first goal of the series.

“My eyes light up like a Christmas tree when the puck’s just sitting there,” Ward said. “I just took a whack at it, and I knew Knubs was going to take the puck to the rack, and I was just kind of following up for just any loose pucks around that happened to be sitting there, and when I saw it, I couldn’t believe it. When I saw the guys come off the bench, that’s when it hit me.”

2. Braden Holtby, G, Capitals

Washington’s rookie netminder, an emergency replacement for the injured Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth when the playoffs began, matched his total of regular-season games this season by playing in his seventh playoff game, but he looked like a seasoned veteran in stopping 31 of 32 shots taken by the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The only puck that got by Holtby required two shots to get over the goal line – Holtby got most of Johnny Boychuk’s blast from the faceoff circle, but it trickled by him, and it took a hustling play by Tyler Seguin to fight through Capitals defensemen John Carlson and Karl Alzner to poke it into the net. Holtby finished the series with a .940 save percentage, outplaying last year’s Vezina and Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Tim Thomas.

“Holtsie is a unique kid, that nothing fazes him,” Capitals coach Dale Hunter said. “He’s a battler, you know, whatever he does he’s going to try his best, and he gets rewarded for it, because he is. And he’s got great character and the guys love him. When you call your goalie in net ‘like a warrior,’ he’s one of the guys like that.”

3. Tyler Seguin, C, Bruins

Aside from Rich Peverley, who led Boston with three goals in the seven-game series, Seguin was the Bruins’ only player to flip on the red light multiple times. His second goal of the playoffs tied Game 7 in the second period, and the 20-year-old led his team with seven of the Bruins’ 32 shots on goal.

“Our scoring chances were very even with them, and in order to win hockey games, you’ve got to have more scoring chances than the other team,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “They made the most of theirs, especially in the last game, and we didn’t.”

In a game in which the Bruins were hard pressed to solve Holtby, and ultimately found that once was not enough, Seguin was Boston’s brightest offensive light.

Star Point standings

Based on a 3-2-1 point system, with three points awarded for first star, two points for second star and one point for third star.